House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher won 32.8 percent of the fourth ballot votes, with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak holding 28.6 percent.
But the balloting was done before Rep. Tom Rukavina announced he was withdrawing and urged his supporters to back Kelliher, a development that promised more votes to come her way in the fifth round of balloting.
In the fourth round, Kelliher got 437 votes, Rybak took 380.5, Thissen had 285 and Rukavina got 226.
A candidate needs 800 votes to win endorsement.
